60-year-old woman held on charges of Gold smuggling

A 60-year-old woman was held on Monday by the Customs department at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International airport, for smuggling gold worth Rs 14.43 lakh. Mumbai-based woman was caught with 505.110 grams of gold bars that she had allegedly concealed on her body.

AHMEDABAD(Bullion Street): A 60-year-old woman was held on Monday by the Customs department at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International airport, for smuggling gold worth Rs 14.43 lakh. Mumbai-based woman was caught with 505.110 grams of gold bars that she had allegedly concealed on her body.

According to sources, this is the first such incident this month and 36th incident of gold smuggling since January 2014. The customs department alone has seized 36.32 kg of gold, worth Rs 10.58 crore and detained 43 people in this connection at the city airport.

Sources said that the woman is a first-time offender and had arrived by Air India flight AI-130 from Mumbai at 6:45 am. "She had visited Ahmedabad from Mumbai 3-4 times in the last one week and had always asked for a wheelchair. As her behavior looked suspicious, she was stopped for questioning. During checking, we found four gold bars hidden on her body," said a customs official.

The Air India flight was stationed before the international terminal on arrival, since it being an international flight from London, which arrived from Mumbai. That is why the woman was caught by the customs, the sources said. She has been sent to judicial custody by the metropolitan court.

Until now, all smugglers who were held at the airport were coming from places outside India. But this is the first case at the city airport where a passenger travelling from one place to another within India has been held for gold smuggling, sources said.